Film Analysis - 'The Shape of Water' (Directed by Guillermo del Toro)

-
Official trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFYWazblaUA

'The Shape of Water', directed by Guillermo del Toro (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillermo_del_Toro) is a fantastical, romantic picture presenting itself with a running time of 123 minutes (2 hours, 3 minutes); the film was created with a (relatively small) budget of 19.5 million US dollars and grossed over 92.3 million in the box office.
The plot of the film is seemingly based within the 1960's with an aesthetic that obviously suits the style of its director (Guillermo del Toro), showing some resemblance to some of his earlier films, such as 'Hellboy' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellboy_(2004_film)). The way the characters of this story are presented also greatly matches Guillermo del Toro as it projects the protagonists in a light that greatly emphasises their importance and somewhat alienates them from the norm of the world they reside within (, again much like 'Hellboy').
The settings featured in the film are very stylised, the 1960's aesthetic is so obviously present in most of the scenes that eventually it seems to convey a sort of familiarity to the viewer, even in scenes of intense drama and tension, this gives the plot a sort of figurative anchor that prevents it from feeling like the story is leading itself off course. The use of lighting to change the atmosphere in the film is rather frequent, the usage of green/blue colours is remarkably present and gives the film a sort of affinity for water which suits the main characters and themes tremendously.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Film Scene Analysis - 'No Country for Old Men' - Coin flipping scenes

-
Image
First coin flip scene:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLCL6OYbSTw Second coin flip scene:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGfvV3Syud8 The film, 'No Country for Old Men' is a hard hitting 122 minutes of suspense and conflicting duality, however, twice during its course the character known as Anton Chigurh ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Chigurh ) presents a two different individuals with a near impossible dilemma, he actively puts everything they are into a single coin toss, conveying the philosophy that life and death are just two sides of the same 'coin' and that chance is the only real divide between them. In doing this Chigurh trivialises the very idea of being alive/human and ultimately embodies the concept of death and how it can seek you out whether you believe it to be your time or not. The first coin toss scene is featured in a small time shop located to the side of a long, dry, unforgiving road; roads are used a consistent theme throughout the ...
Read more

'Pan's Labyrinth' Opening and Ending scene analysis/comparison

-
Image
Youtube link: 'Opening' :  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMnp-XmMiEg Youtube link: 'Ending' :  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvjiQTdcCRU The film, 'Pan's Labyrinth', (directed by Guillermo Del Toro,) opens and ends with two near identical scenes. Beginning with little to no visual detail, the viewer(s) is only given the faint sound of (semi-fast) breathing; the sound is non-diegetic at first, creating a sense of ambiguity as well as emphasising the sound as it is not contested by any visual distractions. As the shot pans (no pun intended) upward, it is revealed that the source of the (now diegetic) sound is a (presumably severely) injured girl who is bleeding profusely from her nose; this indicates that she is possibly suffering from either internal bleeding or brain damage, given the setting she is in, one would assume that she wouldn't be able to receive the necessary treatment required to heal such wounds in time, further emphasising the ...
Read more

Film Analysis - 'Fish Tank' (Directed by Andrea Arnold)

-
Image
Film Trailer:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u6pg8fuSB4 The film 'Fish Tank' is a social drama with a running time of 123 minutes and was directed by Andrea Arnold's ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Arnold ); the film was produced with a budget of 3 million US dollars and grossed around 5.9 million US dollars profit. The film covers a number of social topics, such as statutory rape, domestic abuse, differences in social class and the difficulties of growing up (as a teenager); the overall plot of the film develops at a relatively slow pace, however you could argue that this somewhat grounds the story in reality and makes all the significant events that the main protagonist experiences all that more meaningful. The main setting of the film is based in an urban area, which seems to be used to emphasise/convey a crushing sense of imprisonment  and depression; within the beginning and end of the film there is a combined total of three scenes that focus on a mal...
Read more